The Housing and Ageing Alliance (HAA) has appointed Mario Ambrosi, director of communications and marketing at Anchor, as its new chair, replacing Housing Learning & Improvement Network’s chief executive Jeremy Porteus.

Sarah Davis, senior policy and practice officer at The Chartered Institute of Housing, has been appointed vice-chair.

The Housing and Ageing Alliance is made up of individuals from local and national organisations working together to bring about improvements to the housing and living conditions of older people.

A former journalist with more than 20 years’ experience in communications, Ambrosi joined Anchor, a not-for-profit provider of housing and care for people in later life, in 2004. He has held a number of senior roles there. He is also co-chair of the National Care Forum’s marketing and communications forum and a member of the National Housing Federation’s national communications and influencing group.

Ambrosi said: “The pressures of demographic change and the enormous opportunity afforded by the creation of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce mean it has never been more important for organisations to work together on this crucial topic. At the HAA, we believe that homes, communities and housing-related services should be planned and designed in ways that enable choice, control, inclusion and independence in later life. As a broad spectrum of people working together, the HAA has a unique perspective. Crucially, members include older people themselves among a range of experts in the field. I’m very pleased to be working with Sarah as vice-chair and all the other members to drive real change.”